2013 Flathead Catfish Photos

That’s goofy. ‘course I’m not a ski guy by nature, but size doesn’t matter. I know this for a fact as the fw reminds me frequently.

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My first ever Flathead.
Not big but bare in mind I’m a 2-1-8’er.

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Nice..nothing like a big first.

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That’s goofy. ‘course I’m not a ski guy by nature, but size doesn’t matter. I know this for a fact as the fw reminds me frequently.

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That’s just a line that the women in our lives, who catch bigger fish than we do, use to make us men feel better about our catches

My goal this year was to catch my first 50 pounder. first fish of the year 47in x 30in and according to the chart 52lbs. I tried to weigh it but the scale wouldn’t stop moving between 49 and 52 which is weird because I thought my scale was a 50lb scale. anyway I’m going to happily put myself in the 50lb club with my new personal best.

Whooo son, that’s a nice flatty! Congrats on the 50# club.

Congrats and WELCOME TO THE CLUB!

Now what bait were you using?

How deep? In current or the slack water?

Details! Details! LOL!

St Croix, Mississippi, Minnesota??

PS that spot looks familiar.

ha ha ok. Mississippi pool 8. live bluegill, tiny now that I think about it. I was fishing in about 5ft of water along the beginning of an island. I think there may have been a small cut next to the bank with lots of cover. not too much current since the channel cuts to the other side of the island. I caught a handful of fish over 30lbs in the same area last year. Also the fishing gods were on my side because there are many reasons I should have lost that fish. also also I’m glad you can’t see behind me because it would be a dead giveaway of my honey hole which I’ve been fishing for 3 years and have never seen a single person fishing in.

Sweet Fish and thanks for sharing the details. Also you’re lucky to find a spot that nobody else fishes

All the spots I fish look like your background!

I’m betting you knew it was a good one on hook set huh?

oh yeah. it didn’t move and immediately took a few yards of line. my issue was it was my third pole and I threw it out toward the end of the night because I had bait to use. I had just thrown that pole in my boat the day before and never changed or stripped any line from last year. the fish ran up current and through some brush which came flying out of the water from the tight line. it then turned around and I fought it all the way around the back of my boat and around to the other side. I was alone so I had to hold the rod and land the fish which caused the line to be dragged across the side of my boat. on top of that I’m pulling the thing against the current and its got its mouth wide open. so I’m just happy I managed to get it in the boat.

THAT’S the detail you left out in your first post! It’s a great pic and all, but your story makes it LARGER!

St Croix, 10 July 2013, 35″ X 22 1/2″

Nice fish guys!

Yes, I love to hear the stories behind the catches too.

July 11th St Croix Report: I picked up another flathead last night (34″ X 21.5″) and I finally have 3 flats on the King of the Cats leaderboard. It is upgrade time. Weather last night was perfect – Clear, Calm, Warm. Water temp was 79 degrees and the river continues a steady 1/2 foot a day drop. River level was 680 feet and the island banks are showing. I started in a backwater cut but it is starting to get shallow – I did manage a small 22″ channel at 2115. Decided to move to a main channel spot at 2300 and hit that flathead at 2345 on cut bait. He just hammered it – fish was healthy with no spawn markings showing.

Great fish. I wish we had those up north.

33″ Flathead, 13 July 2013, St Croix

St Croix, 15 July 2013, 39″ X 25 1/2″, caught on cut bullhead. Showing spawn scars.

16 July 2013, St Croix River, 41″ X 26 1/2″, hit cut bait. Nice healthy fish caught at 2245.

Nice fish Steve! Looks like you had a pretty good night. Must had been a typo with the 21 1/2 girth on that 41 cause it sure looks fatter then that.

Thanks, Matt. It was a typo – she was 26 1/2″ in girth. I fixed it.

Steve is starting to heat up!

Nice Fish Guys

Always like the father/daughter trips!

Nice job Brian. Looks like things might be finally getting back to normal.

OK, here’s my new PB. It’s 32lb 4oz…sorry in all the excitement I did not measure it, but I’d guess 42+” as I caught a 24 pounder last week that measured 38″ (no pic). Caught this while drift/trolling cut shad on Coralville Reservoir (Iowa) Thursday afternoon. This was a bonus fish as we were targeting channel cats. Caught 20 of them too from 4-8+ pounds. In the past two weeks, I have taken over 100 channel cats (weighing over 400 pounds) and the two afore mentioned flatheads using this method. Basically a Santee Cooper Rig. Working great. BTW, all were released to grow up. I’m trying to get this pond up to Mendota standards.

L8R…Ken

Nice fish Ken, there’s tons of big flatheads in the reservoir and some very nice channels too, like you say a guy just has to find them. Very many big channels over 12 lbs?

Congrats on your PB!

Nice Fish

30 July 2013, 43″ X 27″, Mississippi River, nice King of the Cats Upgrade

That’s a solid looking Flattie right there. Job well done.

L8R…Ken